


Serendipity

by MissingInAction



Series: Querencia [1]
Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Claustrophilia, Fluff, Headcanon, Just lots of fluff, M/M, Phinks tries to mess with the new kid, The Phantom Troupe is a group of dorks, This ship gives me so many feels, Uvogin is a human furnace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-10
Updated: 2014-08-10
Packaged: 2018-02-12 14:52:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2114109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissingInAction/pseuds/MissingInAction
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shalnark is the newest member of the Phantom Troupe and they stick him with the beast of the group. Uvo finds him amusing. Shalnark finds him unbearably hot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Serendipity

**Author's Note:**

> Word taken from [ Other-wordly](http://other-wordly.tumblr.com/)
> 
> A request from Faólan for UvoShal that wouldn't make him cry.
> 
> Headcanons: Uvo is stupidly warm at all times (courtesy of [ perfecttower](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2076927))  
> Shal is mildly anemic (which is why he runs cold) and claustrophilic.
> 
> Entirely based upon the line: "There's no point in getting a bed if you can't sleep in it too."

_Serendipity  
\- (n.) finding something good without looking for it. _

It wasn't because they were mean. At least, that's what Shalnark tried to tell himself. Of course they would act this way towards the new member. He couldn’t be trusted just yet, even if the Boss did give him the okay. When he asked the nearest member, a woman with brightly colored pink hair, where their base was, all he received in return was a glare.

"You really think that people like us can afford to stay in one place? We don't have a base. We steal enough jenny to book hotels in the cities where we have jobs." The reply was curt, but something about the gleam in her eyes did not sit well with him. 

They had gotten the request early that morning. After Shalnark had been introduced to the Troupe, a message came in that a some high-up mafia bosses were going to be in the next town over with precious jewels and artifacts. They were there for negotiation purposes and Shalnark vaguely remembered hearing about it on their way here. ‘Here’ being a shady hotel off the side of the road which, according to the woman--Machi?--was the only hotel with enough rooms for the lot of them. 

Chrollo looked over the message carefully, his eyes distant as he considered what was to be gained. They won't do a job without his approval and he stated that he would decide sometime before nightfall. By the looks of it, the sun was only just beginning to set. Shalnark had spent his day observing the rest of the group from the sidelines, tense in both body and mind. He earned his place here only for taking out Chrollo's target, but that didn't mean he was comfortable being in a room full of thieves and murderers. This wasn’t because he was scared--that was hardly the issue--the problem, rather, was in their unpredictability, and that made him uneasy.

A large hand caught his eye and he moved to sidestep it but to no avail. It came down on his back like a brick, the impact sending him straight to the ground. 

"So you're the newbie!" 

Shalnark looked up...and up... _and up_. This was not a man, it was a bear with a loincloth. He stood up slowly, a barely audible wince leaving his lips as he did and looked at the savage. "Do you greet all new members by attacking them?!" He huffed, brows furrowed in anger and hand twitching as it inched ever so much closer to his pocket. The nen that flowed through this man was incredible, it surrounded him in thick waves and Shalnark could only imagine how dangerous and most likely fatal any fight with this giant would be.

"Attack? I didn't attack you! That was a pat!" To prove his point, he repeated the earlier action with just as much enthusiasm. Despite being better prepared, the contact still managed to send him stumbling a few steps back. _Incredible_. Not only was the man's hand heavy and strong, the heat as it touched his back was nearly unbearable. "See? No harm done." 

When Shalnark looked back up at the man, he was greeted by a broad smile. With that, it was as if any funk he felt earlier had disappeared altogether. The longer he allowed himself to gawk--and yes, he was definitely gawking--at the guy, the more he realized just how much of a giant he really was. Standing at almost six feet himself, he wasn’t short by any means, but beside this behemoth he felt like a child gazing up at a tree. His arms were like trunks and his hair a mangled mess. Oh no, he was certainly no bear.

This guy was more like a wild lion.

"-gin."

"Excuse me?"

"I said, the name's Uvogin." A sun-bathed hand extended towards him and Shalnark cautiously offered his own. It looked so tiny in comparison to Uvogin's and it was engulfed entirely by heat when he latched his fingers around it. _It was too much_. He tried to pull his hand back with a gentle tug, but Uvogin was far too determined. His eyes were bright as he regarded the much smaller man. "Shalnark, right? I'll call you Shal."

The blond only nodded, his eyes still locked on their connected hands. That coarse skin was an open fire against his own. He tried to pull once more only to stumble forward when Uvogin gave him a swift tug. Of course, stumble was an incredibly modest word. Shalnark practically flew forward, body crashing into the brick wall that was Uvogin's chest.

"So call me Uvo, got it?"

"Y-Yeah..."

\----  
"Why is there only one bed, Uvo?"

He received a reply in the form of a quick shrug from his companion whose eyes were busy taking in everything their modest-sized hotel room had to offer, which really wasn’t much at all. The Boss had approved the hit after all and they had traveled to the next town over to await the arrival of the mafia bosses. Naturally, their residence would be whatever hotel Phinks could find to accommodate their group. When he’d finally managed to obtain the keys, he dropped one in Shalnark's lap and pointed to Uvo. "You two take the double. Won't make much difference anyway." 

At the time, Shalnark didn’t quite understand exactly what he’d meant. Double as in two beds? Or double as in a singular bed for the both of them? When he slipped the key into the lock, he carefully opened the door and flipped the lights on. The room was normal enough, complete with a desk, a couch, a night table, a television set, and the bathroom door… but there in the middle lie only a single bed with a rather tall stack of blankets placed neatly on top. 

"Maybe the staff made a mistake?" He muttered as he entered first, his eyes never leaving the bed. Was this their idea of a _joke_? Making the new member sleep on the couch? Uvo would clearly want the bed, right?

Uvo closed the door behind himself and scratched his head, an eyebrow raised as he regarded the annoyed expression on Shalnark's face. "You can have the bed, you know. I don't need it."

Shalnark looked up finally, his eyes raised so he could meet Uvo's. The man stared back at him with a large hand resting on his hip. He pointed to the blankets before offering him a light smile. "Those are mine though. I'll sleep on the floor." As he spoke, he walked over to the nightstand and pushed it to the corner so he could move the bed, lifting the heavy mattress as if it were nothing. Shalnark's eyes widened as he watched him lay out the blankets by thickness, starting with the comforter first and setting them on top of one another until he deemed adequate. "There. Just throw me a pillow."

The blond nodded slowly, his hand reaching out for the set of pillows on the bed. He tossed the biggest one to Uvo and finally sat down on the edge of the bed, arms crossed over his chest. Here, with no else watching him, his plastered smile fell and he glared at Uvo. "This isn't normal. Why aren't you sleeping in the bed or the couch at least?"

Uvo just waved him off with a laugh and shouted over his shoulder that he'd be taking a bath first and to not expect any hot water afterwards. Why did the human furnace need hot water when the heat that radiated from him was enough to start fires on its own? He had run beside the man on the way here and, while the activity was hardly enough to work up a real sweat, Shalnark still found himself drenched when they arrived. His blond hair was wet against his forehead and his clothes stuck uncomfortably to his skin.

_He wanted a cold bath anyway._

After they had both bathed and eaten dinner, Uvo declared he was going to go to sleep and settled down in his makeshift bed. Shalnark followed suit, feeling strangely cold and exposed in such a large bed. The man would usually sleep with a wall of pillows at each side so he could feel closed-in, but Uvo had taken more than one after all and he only had one for his head and another at his side. He stared at the ceiling silently, his body rigid as he tried to will himself to sleep. 

"Why are you down there?" The question was supposed to be mental, but he registered the sound of his voice and the sound of shuffling before he felt hazel eyes settle on his form. 

"Because I can't fit on the bed." 

Oh. _Oh._

"Isn't it annoying to sleep down there though?" He whispered, moving over to the side of the bed so he could sneak a glance at the man on the floor. His large form was buried under a stack of blankets and his body yearned to settle beneath them too, anything to escape the far too thin excuse for a blanket that draped him currently.

"Not really. I'm used to it by now. Although, they don't usually give me a roommate. I usually use up all the pillows and blankets." Uvo said softly, or rather, as soft as a person like him could. His husky voice cut through the cold air of the room and Shalnark found himself nodding as he looked back at the empty bed. 

"You use them all? Do you need my stuff then?"

Uvo looked over at him with an amused smile, his eyes narrowing slowly before he reaching out to grip the blanket that was wrapped around the smaller man’s body. "If you insist." He replied, his eyes never leaving Shalnark's as the man carefully crawled down from the mattress to settle on the makeshift bed. The blond fumbled around in the darkness for the pillows he left up on the bed and tossed them down as well.

"Take ‘em. I can't sleep like that anyway, it’s cold and the bed’s way too big." Some part of him voiced the fact that he probably sounded like a child, but he disregarded it in favor of lying down beside the man, being sure to keep a respectable distance between them. Compromise and nothing more. "You can have my blanket if I can sleep down here." It wasn't a question or even a suggestion. Shalnark was merely stating the matter as he settled down, burrowing his body in the mountain of blankets that Uvo built. He reached for a pillow that he thought wasn't being used but when he gripped the soft material, a large hand caught his wrist.

"I'm using that." 

_Liar._

"No, you're not. Give me the pillow, I actually need it." Need may have sounded like a heavy term to use but in his case, he did need the pillow. With the one under his head, his left side flanked by Uvo, and his feet tucked into the blankets, the only exposed side was at his right. This final pillow would seal him completely. 

"Well then, we'll have to share it." Uvo grunted out, his hand dragging the blond man close until his forehead was merely centimeters away from the man's hairy chest. His hands faltered, laying awkwardly at his sides as he tried to understand the situation. There was absolutely no way he was going to get any sleep like this! Despite the thought, his eyelids were already heavy and the heat from Uvo's body was intoxicating. His body relaxed against his own will. Shalnark began to doze off, his head wobbling for a while before finally settling on the Enhancer's chest. 

"Shal...?" He heard his name being called, but didn't bother replying, choosing to settle closer to the warmth. His back was cold in his position and he shivered slowly despite being surrounded by blankets and Uvo. This didn’t go unnoticed by the older man who questioned the action with a frown and a tilt of the head. There was no way in hell the kid was _actually_ cold, was there?

Uvogin constantly got complaints about his body being far too warm and he had seen the effects it had on the kid after they arrived at the hotel. He was a sweating mess, his heart racing, and his body glistening with sweat despite the cool air that night. He was about to ask Shalnark again when he felt the shiver once more. He reached down to touch the boy's hand and was startled at the fact that he actually was cold.

"Why are you wearing that shirt if you're like this? Idiot." He mumbled as he tugged on the shoulder of Shalnark's sleeveless top, his eyes narrowed when the small body pressed closer to his. Uvo watched him for a while, heard his breathing start to slow and his rapid heartbeat wind down into cadent beats. He tried tucking the blankets in closer to warm him up but he was still shivering, so Uvo did the next best thing.

He draped a heavy arm over the boy, careful not to crush him as he splayed his large palm over the center of his back and held him still. Shalnark squirmed around for a moment as if trying to get away from the heat of his hand before he settled down.

Only then did he finally go to sleep.

\-----

_‘Shal, you get the rooms. The target’s on the move and we can't lose him.’_

The blond looked down at his phone with a smile, his hand settled on his hip as he tucked the device away and went over to the service desk to request the rooms. Uvo looked up at the sound of confusion to see a look of bewilderment on the receptionist's face, her head tilted awkwardly as she slowly nodded and picked up the phone. Shalnark's face never faltered and he smiled warmly when she handed him the keys to the rooms. 

He handed the keys off until he was left with only one and glanced over at Uvo. If the point was to make him suffer all those years ago, the Troupe had been sorely mistaken. Even if he wasn't assigned with Uvo, the blond requested it. 

"Uvo, hurry up. I want to take a bath before Phinks gets a hold of it and takes all the hot water! Unfortunately, he's in the room right next ours." A genuine sigh left his lips as he said this and he didn't miss the glare directed his way before it was soon blocked by Uvo's large stature.

The walk to the hotel room was quiet, Shal commenting now and again about the poor choice of decor and lighting. He handed the key off to Uvo so he could look at the painting by the door and shook his head. Classic Japponese with a rustic Padokean wallpaper? These people were idiots.

"Why is there no bed?" 

"Hm?"

He turned to his companion before a look of enlightenment reached him and he gave him a soft smile. "Oh that. Well, there's no point in getting a bed if you can't sleep in it too. And since I sleep with you anyway, I just told them to strip the sheets and leave us the blankets."

He couldn't understand why the man was giving him such an odd look but he walked past him and hummed in appreciation. There was an array of pillows and blankets set on the couch and he heard Uvo grunt before a pair of arms wrapped around his torso.

"There's not enough pillows again."

_"Guess we'll have to share."_

**Author's Note:**

> This will be part of a series of UvoShal fics and other ships called "Querencia". 
> 
> If you have any requests, as always, my box is always open. I'm a little slow in filling because of uni but I'll get to them, promise.  
> tumblr: daiou--sama.tumblr.com


End file.
